Traveling connector for third-rail electric systems.



PATENTED AUG. 11, 1903.

No. 736,006. I

J. W. PERKINS..

TRAVELING GONNEGTOR'FOR THIRD RAIL ELBOTRIG SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 23. 1902. I

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LITHQ. wAsHmsmN o c UNITED STATES Patented August 11, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES IVALTER PERKINS, OF SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 736,006, dated August 11, 1903.

Application filed September 23, 1902. Serial No. 124,545. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES WALTER PER- mm, a citizen of the United States of America, and a residentof San Jose, in the county of Santa Clara and'State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Traveling Connectors for Third-Rail Electric Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements made in devices for connecting the motor of an electric car with the electrically-charged rail in what is known as a third-rail electric system.

The improvements are adapted more especially for operation and use inconnection with a system of third-rail continuous isolation designed for surface roads, which I have made the subject of a separate application for Letters Patent. In that construction of surface road the electrically-charged third rail is isolated from the traction-rail by barriers of non-conducting material formed of heavy planks fixed along the roadway on 0pposite sides of the third rail for the entire length or'for so much thereof as requires to connector adapted for use and operation in and upon a track of this character; and the same consists in certain novel parts and combinations of parts, as hereinafter described, and set forth in the claims at the end of this specification.

The accompanying drawings, illustrating the said improvement, represent, in Figure 1, a transverse sectional view of the tractionrails, third rail, and isolating-barriers, together with a front elevation of the trolley in position on the third rail. Fig. 2 is aside elevation of the trolley and the third rail controlling devices. Fig. 5 is a top viewof Fig. 4.

The third rail a is separated electrically from the traction-rail b b by barriers d d,-

of non-conducting material, such as heavy planks coated with some insulating substance or matter, suchas a bituminous compound or mixture. The perpendicular sides of these barriers adjacent to and running parallel with the third rail inclose the same as in a narrow trough, the top surfaces of which are ger of a person or an animal short-circuiting 1 the current by touching the third rail and an adjacent conducting medium, such as one of the traction-rails, at the same moment, the barriers are placed as closely as practicable to the third rail and the trough is made as narrow as the construction of the trolley will permit, and in the present improvement the trolley is controlled and guided in its travel along the trough by laterally-extending pieces f, which I have termed stops, and by a longitudinally-projecting tailpiece g on the upright shank and stem of the trolley. These parts by contact with the perpendicular sides of thetrough keep the trolley in the center of the inclosed space and prevent it from taking a position diagonally across or at an angle to the trough, at the same time allowing proper lateral play or movement'of the trolley during its longitudinal traveling movement along the rail. The proper and effective operation of the trolley, both in straight portions and in curved portions of the track, as in making switches and in turning corners, is insured and maintained by these means without jamming or binding in the narrower portions of the trough and without excessive play or movement in portions where the trough varies in width.

In this improved trolley the shank'h or that part which is secured to the car-body (the latter being indicated at as) has a socket extending from the bottom end upward, and

of the shank taking in a long groovep in the stem confines the stem in the shank without interfering with the required vertical orsliding movement and the lateral or rotary movement. The lower end of the stem is forked, and bearings s are provided therein for the axle of the trolley-wheel.

On the shank h are the stops f, extending approximately horizontal and on opposite sides of a vertical plane, with which the trolley coincides when it is set directly on the longitudinal center line of the rail and fixed firmly on the shank, so as to present a stop or checkf on opposite sides of a tailpiece 9, carried by or forming a rigid part or member of the stem 70. In the construction herein shown this part it extends perpendicularly upward from the forked lower end of the stem to which it is secured and occupies a position in a plane with the wheel on. Its contact with one or the other of the stopsf, therefore, will avert and limit the axial movement of the stem in its shank in either direction and by that means keep the trolleywheel within a given angle the extent or degree of which is not sufficient to allow the wheel to touch the perpendicular sides of the trough, while at the same time the wheel is free to accommodate itself to curves or changes in the line of the trough. The contact of the trolley-wheel with the perpendicular faces of the barriers is prevented by a longitudinallyextending piece t, which I have termed a rudder, rigidly secured to the stem is and extending horizontally from that part in a longitudinal direction. This rudder, projecting either forwardly or rearwardly of the wheel, is of proper length to make contact with the barriers on either side of the rail, according as the trolley swings to the right or the left, and thus limits the angular position of the wheel during its travel. A coiled spring to, interposed between the lower end of the shank h and the shoulder on the stem above the fork, maintains the wheel m in working contact with the rail under vertical play or movement of the car-body on its running-gear. It will be obvious that the rudder i could be directly fixed to the tailpiece g or constitutea part of that piece.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a third-rail electrical railway system, the combination of a traction-rail, a third rail, isolation-barriers inclosing the third rail along the sides thereof and providing a. continuous opening along the top thereof, the top surfaces of said barriers standing above the top face of the rail and forming both acrossing and an isolation between the third rail and the traction-rails, and a traveling connector adapted to connect a motor-car with the third rail, comprising a shank, a stem vertically movable in the shank and having a trolley on the lower end to travel in contact with the third rail, laterally-extending stops on the shank, and a tailpiece forminga rigid member of the stem.

2. In a trolley for electric railways adapted to connect a motor-car with a stationary continuous conductor in a trough, the combination of a shank, a stern vertically and axially movable in the shank, laterally-extending stops rigid on the shank and a tailpiece on the stem adapted to play between the stops both vertically and laterally.

The combination with the trolley-shank and a stem having play both longitudinally and axially in the shank, said stem carrying a traveling conductor; of fixed and laterallyextending stops on the shank, a tailpiece on the stem adapted to play between and be controlled laterally by the stops, and the rudderpiece extending from the stem longitudinally of the traveling connector.

4. In a trolley for electric railways adapted to connect a motor-car with a stationary electric conductor in a trough, the combination of a shank, a stem vertically and axially movable in the shank, a tailpiece on the stem, as a rigid member thereof, and stops carried by the shank operating to control and limit the axial movement of the stem without interfering with its vertical movement in the shank.

5. In a trolley for electric railways, a trolley-shank, a stem movable both longitudinally and axially in said shank, a traveling connector on the stem, a tailpiece carried by the stem, stops on the shank between which the tailpiece is adapted to play and by which its movement axially is limited and a rudder on the stem extending longitudinally of the traveling connector.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD E. OSBORN, M. REGNER. 

